


we set the fire and we let it burn; through the dreamers, we hear the hum

by imadetheline



Series: Breathe In, Breathe Out [15]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: BAMF Luke Skywalker, FebuWhump2021, Friendship, Gen, New Republic Era (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Rebels, Slavery, Sunshine Luke Skywalker, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 05:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29896179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imadetheline/pseuds/imadetheline
Summary: The Empire has been defeated but that doesn't mean it's been wiped out completely. Commander Luke Skywalker of the New Republic and a team of former Alliance soldiers infiltrate one of the remaining Imperial bases but find more than they bargained for.
Series: Breathe In, Breathe Out [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2140389
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	we set the fire and we let it burn; through the dreamers, we hear the hum

**Author's Note:**

> title from we sink by of monsters and men
> 
> originally written for febuwhump day 15 - "run. don't look back," before it got way too long for me to finish on time
> 
> started writing it just bc i wanted an excuse to write a slightly older, more confident but still sunshine luke skywalker and then it turned into the longest one-shot I've ever written and I'm kinda proud of it so i hope you enjoy :)

Rana isn’t afraid to admit she’s slightly annoyed by this assignment. She’s been chosen for a small intel mission with--as everyone has repeatedly told her for the past two days-- _ the  _ Commander Skywalker, the pilot that blew up the Death Star, who killed the emperor, the Jedi, the leader of the infamous Rogue Squadron. One girl sitting across from her in the mess hall had even gazed dreamily into space and commented on how lucky Rana was to get to see him in action. Rana had been about ready to puke into the already barely passable food. 

But now she’s hanging around a small transport ship with four others who were picked to go on this mission, waiting for the briefing, and she can see Skywalker talking with Antilles, another name that everyone knows, across the hangar bay. 

She hasn’t introduced herself to the others yet, but none of them have asked for her name either, so she’s content to lean against a crate of parts for the ships and watch them. There’s a togruta discussing something animatedly with a pantoran, and a beautiful dark-haired woman with sharp cheekbones is glaring heatedly at the very tall trandoshan who seems to return the disdain. Rana wonders if whoever picked her, a small-time thief who joined the Alliance years ago and only stayed to help the New Republic because she has nothing better to do, also made the brilliant decision to choose two people who obviously hate each other.

But then she hears Skywalker laugh across the bay, and she turns in time to see him clap his friend on the back before he pivots towards their congregated group. Even though she doesn’t understand all the fawning and admirers, she can admit she’s very curious to see if all the things she’s heard are true. For one, she highly doubts he can actually take out 50 troopers at once without using a weapon, but that’s the least of the rumors people throw around about him.

There’s no time to try to remember all of them--there’s a lot-- because then Skywalker is standing in front of them, smiling widely. She looks him over once. He’s about her height, which is considered almost short for a human male. His arms are crossed easily and casually over his chest, and his blond hair is messy and the complete opposite of a military cut. He’s wearing all black, and the only visible weapon is a silver cylinder that she can only guess is his lightsaber on his hip. But the most striking feature is his eyes. They’re almost eerily blue. Otherwise, his face is the picture of youth and boyish innocence. But something about those eyes seems almost eternal… and knowing. Even as she thinks it, he glances at her, and his smile doesn’t slip, but she can tell she’s being studied.

Rana prides herself on her ability to read people, a useful skill when you grow up making a living as a thief, but the only thing she can tell is that he seems genuinely happy to be here, and Rana can’t imagine why that is. But otherwise, nothing. He’s relaxed and informal and cheerful.

She glances around the group, trying to gauge the other group members’ reactions and see how they act towards him. Usually, she’s able to tell a lot about people by the way others interact with them. The togruta and pantoran have stopped talking and are facing him respectfully. The woman and trandoshan… not as much. They’re still glaring daggers at each other. Apparently, their hatred doesn’t take breaks for mission briefings from commanding officers. That could mean they don’t respect him. Perhaps he’s a pushover. Somehow, Rana doesn’t think so. Maybe they, like her, haven’t worked with him before.

But either Skywalker doesn’t notice, or he doesn’t care about their staring match because he makes no move to berate them, just starts talking, “Hey, so I’m Luke, and I’m just gonna quickly go over the plan before Wedge over there,” he gestures across the hangar to where Antilles is speaking to another pilot and lifting a crate, “flies us to Katarr.”

Rana tucks that information away. He’d introduced himself as Luke, not Commander Skywalker. More proof to back up her assessment that he’s inclined to be informal, and it also says he doesn’t need to feel more important than his team, so he’s not lacking confidence. He’d said Katarr, which she knows is in the Mid Rim but no more than that. She wonders what’s out there that’s so important. 

The woman and trandoshan still haven’t stopped their glaring where they’re standing across from Rana, on the other side of Skywalker. But this time, Rana catches the pantoran woman’s glance their way, and then her small smile as she turns to look back at Skywalker. Interesting. Perhaps she knows s-

Her thought is cut off by Skywalker again as he clears his throat, “Brek, Vadri, I was assured that you two could work past your differences for this mission, but if that’s not the case, I can easily replace you. Would either of you like to leave? You should probably tell me now before we get into hyperspace.” He says it frankly, smiling softly. And sure enough, the pantoran’s smile has grown slightly at his gentle admonishment. So she at least seems to have experience working with Skywalker. 

Speaking of, Rana glances back to the commander. His stance hasn’t changed, still casual, and he doesn’t seem angry or even annoyed; he seems to be legitimately offering the two members a way out if they don’t want to work with each other. And she doesn’t think he’d be offended if they took it. So far, Rana has to say she’s impressed with him.

The trandoshan, Brek, she thinks, seems surprised Skywalker knows his name, but he just shakes his head and hisses, “No, we’re fine. Sorry, Commander.”

Skywalker smiles kindly, “Call me Luke.” Brek nods awkwardly, and Rana tilts her head. He’s probably not used to the informalness. Either that or he’s intimidated, perhaps by all the wild rumors about Skywalker. It’s also interesting to learn, though, that Skywalker had bothered to learn their names. She’s worked with New Republic officials who couldn’t care less, so she’s inclined to like Skywalker a bit more now. And she doesn’t consider herself unfriendly or unreasonable; she’d been annoyed by all the hero-worship, sure, and thought he might be a stuck-up prick because of it, but if he’s not--well, then she’s got no grudge against him. Hopefully, her first impression of him holds up.

The commander doesn’t seem to notice Brek’s hesitation, just looks questioningly to… Vadri? Rana thinks he’d said Vadri. The woman jerks her head in a half nod, still frowning, but apparently, that’s enough because Luke turns back to the group.

“Everyone else good?” He glances around at the rest of them, but no one says anything, so he continues. “Alright then. So our intelligence has picked up the location of one of the remaining Imperial bases on Katarr. You’ve all been picked for this mission because of your individual skill sets. We can’t just storm into this one. We need to get inside and get into their system to hopefully get the location of the other remaining Imperial strongholds before they find out we’re there and wipe everything.”

Rana’s trying to assess what each person is here for, but she’s not having much success. Their clothing isn’t very indicative, mostly plain greys and blacks, much like her own. So she glances back to Skywalker, who’s pulled out a holo and flicked it on. It’s the plans of a building, presumably the Imperial base. Some places are blank or unfilled in, the blue light flickering out where there’s no data.

“Based on our raids of other bases, this is the best guess at a layout we have, but we’re gonna have to be on our toes in case it’s wildly off.” Skywalker’s lips tug up at that, but then he’s moving on, “The plan as of now is for Lin,” he glances to the pantoran and smiles, “to shift into one of the guards and hopefully get us past the facial scan.”

Rana glances to the pantoran, or the apparently not a pantoran after all, reassessing her conclusion about them. They must be a clawdite who’s just taken on the form of a pantoran. Lin seems to sense they’re being studied, and they tilt their head, catching Rana’s gaze. But the clawdite just flashes a smirk, and then their attention is fixed on Skywalker again, who Rana’s not surprised to find is looking at them both and grinning. He always seems to be smiling.

He meets Rana’s gaze and gestures toward Lin, “Just be glad I mentioned it now and didn’t let them spring it on you in the middle of a mission like they did to me.” He laughs, looking to Lin’s still smirking face, “It is kind of disconcerting to see your teammate’s face start shifting when you’re trying to run from Imperials.”

Lin lifts an eyebrow, “I don’t remember disconcerting being the word you used then. I think it was something more along the lines of-”

Rana pushes herself off the crate a little, interested, but Skywalker interrupts quickly, waving a hand, “Yes, yes, alright. Don’t embarrass me in front of the team, Lin. Besides, I’m far more mature now.” He grins in a way that distinctly tells Rana he’s lying and not trying to hide it.

And someone else seems to agree with her assessment, “If that isn’t the biggest lie I’ve heard.” It’s the togruta male. And the comment is mumbled under his breath, but it’s audible anyway. 

Lin chuckles, and Rana glances to Skywalker. He’s doing an excellent job of looking offended, but the smile tugging at his lips gives him away. “I have no idea what you could mean, Keluri, so I’m just going to ignore it and continue with the briefing.” Keluri shares a small smile with Lin, and then both their expressions shift to serious again. The trandoshan, Brek, is doing a harder job of hiding his smile at the conversation. And the dark-haired woman, Vadri, across from Rana hasn’t shifted her expression at all, but her shoulders seem less tense. To her surprise, Rana finds she’s not as annoyed to be here as she was five minutes ago. She glances back to Skywalker.

“So Lin hopefully gets us in. Brek, Rana, and I head to the main computer system here.” He gestures at the fifth level. “As our resident slicer Brek, you get into the system, get the info on other bases,” He grins at Brek, “And anything else that seems interesting or important.” Brek grins back, less awkwardly than he had when Skywalker first talked to him. Maybe he’s getting used to the Commander’s informal nature.

“Keluri, Lin, you’re with Vadri,” he smiles warmly at the dark-haired woman to the right of him, and she doesn’t quite smile back, but her eyes soften. Skywalker doesn’t seem offended that she doesn’t seem as inclined to grinning as he does. “Vadri, you’re our demolitions expert, so you’re in charge of setting charges at the main power generators. They should be…” His finger hovers by the holo until he seems to find what he’s looking for and points at one of the lower levels, “here.” He grins triumphantly, “And then we get out, blow it up, and we’re out of there. It’s a relatively small base, only used for intel, so it should be fairly easy.” He glances around at them, “Any-”

He’s interrupted by a loud thud from across the hangar. They all turn to look to find Wedge standing over a large crate that he’s clearly just dropped, cursing loudly. Other people in the large hangar are staring, but most are smiling. And Rana can’t help the small grin that tugs at the corners of her mouth either. Skywalker doesn’t even try to hide his as he yells, “Alright there, Wedge?”

Antilles sends a glare his way, “Shut it, Luke!” he yells back, and Skywalker laughs loudly.

And then Skywalker’s speaking again, and Rana turns back to face him. But he’s talking very loudly, and his gaze is still fixed on Antilles, “Anyways,” he says very pointedly, “as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted-” Rana catches the obscene symbol Antilles gestures in Skywalker’s direction, and she chuckles, raising a hand to cover her mirth. But Skywalker’s already laughing. And then most of the team is too, so she doesn’t feel very bad about it.

In fact, she’s actually enjoying herself. And even though the rumors and hero worship of Skywalker had made her view of him fairly low when she walked into this hangar, she’s finding it harder and harder to dislike him. She sees why everyone loves him. He’s just so damn personable.

They finally stop laughing, and Luke finishes his sentence in between chuckles, “Any questions?”

Keluri, the togruta, crosses his arms and raises one of the white facial markings over his eyes, smirking, “This plan seems to have a lot of guesswork and places for things to go awry.” Rana has to agree, but she’s glad someone more familiar with Skywalker brought it up.

If anything, the criticism oddly seems to make Skywalker’s grin wider. He shrugs, “You know me, Keluri. Best not to plan too much. It doesn’t seem to agree with me.”

Lin rolls their eyes and mutters, “Too right.” Luke grins cheekily in their direction, and they speak up, addressing the whole group, “Be prepared for nothing to go the way it’s supposed to. Luke here is basically a magnet for trouble, and I’ve never seen a mission go to plan with him on it.”

“Hey!” Luke exclaims, palming the holo off and tucking it into his belt. “There was that one time on Ringo Vinda-”

Keluri laughs and shakes his head, “I do believe we only made it out of there thanks to a timely rescue by Solo.”

“Who, if you’ll remember, I commed!” Luke fires back, smiling teasingly.

“Only after you ran into an entire Imperial garrison,” Keluri chuckles, and Skywalker opens his mouth but then seems to think better of it and closes it sharply. “That’s what I thought,” Keluri smirks, a smile pulling at his green cheeks.

Skywalker narrows his eyes, “This conversation isn’t over. I’m going to remember a mission that I was on that went perfectly smoothly and according to plan. Then you’ll see.”

Someone snorts behind Rana, and she turns her head to catch sight of Wedge walking towards them. He strides past her and claps Skywalker on the shoulder, snorting, “Good luck with that.” And then he’s ducking up the ramp into the transport ship. 

Skywalker shoots him a glare over his shoulder, but there’s no heat in it. “Alright, well, if everyone’s good, I guess we’d better get going. Leia would kill me if we stood here all day talking.”

Ah, that’s right. Rana had forgotten he’s close friends with the princess. Someone had even been saying recently that they’re related, but she thinks it’s probably just one of the rumors surrounding him.

She does have one more question, though, as she follows him and Lin up the ramp, the rest of the group behind her. “Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, why aren’t you flying us, seeing as you’re our best pilot?”

Rana moves to the side of the shuttle once she’s inside, and Luke turns, smiling, as the rest of the group files in. “No need for sir, Rana.” She nods once, tucking the information away, and he continues, “And thank you for the praise. Don’t let Wedge hear you say it, though.” He grins, “but Wedge is actually dropping us off and then leaving to wait just out of atmo until we signal him because we couldn’t get our hands on the Imperial codes to allow us close to the base. So, as much as I would love to be piloting, if I’m gonna go in with you, we need someone else flying the ship.”

Wedge’s voice echoes from the cockpit, “It’s like you don’t trust me, Luke. Is my flying not good enough for your high standards?”

Luke smiles and turns toward Wedge’s voice to answer, but before he can, Lin chimes in, “Oh, trust me, Antilles, we’re all thrilled you’re piloting. No one needs some Skywalker flying if we want to keep our lunches.”

An exaggerated “Ha!” comes from the cockpit, and Rana hides a smile behind her hand.

Luke rounds on Lin, looking very unimpressed, “I thought you promised not to disparage my flying in front of people I’ve just met, Lin. I do have a reputation to uphold, you know.” 

And Rana can already tell he doesn’t care an ounce about his reputation. Still, she very much enjoys listening to their banter, looking back to Lin, who’s smirking, their yellow face tattoos stretched from their wide grin, “I just think they should know you have a penchant for going faster than necessary and adding far too many spins.”

Wedge interrupts again, voice filtering through the metal of the ship, “Understatement!”

Luke throws up his hands and rolls his eyes, turning towards the cockpit. She can see him lean over Wedge’s shoulder and point to something on the display through the open door. Wedge just shakes his head and laughs.

But then Lin leans over, smiling, and whispers conspiratorially, “That’s not the only reason he’s not piloting, you know.”

Rana grins, “Oh?” She’s all for more of Lin’s stories about their commander.

“Luke is famous for his piloting skills, but let me tell you, the number of ships he’s crashed? Innumerable. I don’t even know where to start.” Lin is grinning wide, and Rana can’t help but join them. She hasn’t heard about that side of Skywalker.

“I can hear you, you know.”

Rana turns sharply to find Luke standing outside the cockpit, hands on his hips, and a badly concealed smile on his face. Lin doesn’t seem surprised as they roll their eyes, “It’s not our fault you have Jedi senses.” Luke just raises his eyebrows, blue eyes sparkling, but he doesn’t dispute it.

And then the ship’s engines rumble, and the ground jolts beneath them as Wedge takes off. Rana stumbles and has to throw a hand out to catch herself on the wall. But so does everyone else. Lin falls into one of the seats lining the walls, and everyone seems to follow their lead, finding a seat. But Luke doesn’t even shift his feet, still standing steadily near the front of the hold, the cockpit door behind him. Rana likes to think she has pretty good balance, but that seems unnatural. “How-”

Keluri waves a hand dismissively from where he’s sitting across from Lin, “Don’t bother. Some of his Jedi reflexes or whatever.” 

Rana glances from the togruta to Luke questioningly. Luke just smirks and says, “Something like that.” But then his attention is fixed back on Lin, “And I don’t believe I’ve crashed that many ships.”

Lin breaks out laughing, and Rana glances at Brek, who’s sitting on the other side of the clawdite. He just shrugs. Luke crosses his arms and raises his eyebrows as he waits for Lin’s laughter to subside. But somehow, he even manages to make that expression look amused and not angry. Rana’s not sure how he does it because there’s no outward sign, but she just inherently knows he’s not upset. She has the suspicion that not much upsets him and that she probably doesn’t want to find out what does. 

Finally, Lin manages to speak, “That’s funny, Luke. Statistically speaking, if you get anywhere near the controls of a ship, the probability that it’s going to crash skyrockets.”

And before Luke even gets a chance to counter, there’s a voice from the cockpit, “She’s not wrong!” 

Rana laughs. Wedge sounds like their ribbing of his friend immensely amuses him. Luke just shoots a glare over his shoulder that Wedge can’t see and mutters, “Traitor.” And then louder, “What is this, gang up on Luke day?” He’s frowning, but his eyes are bright.

Keluri mumbles, “It’s just because it’s so easy.” And now everyone’s laughing or smiling. Even Vadri, who doesn’t seem inclined to smiling, is fighting back the grin tugging at her lips. 

Luke throws up his hands and finally collapses into one of the seats across from Rana, “I give up.” But he catches Rana’s gaze, and she can see the mirth dancing in those blue eyes. She’s decided she rather likes Commander Luke Skywalker.

Once the laughter has died down, silence rises to meet them. But as she’s quickly learning, Luke isn’t inclined to silence. “So Rana, where’re you from?”

All eyes in the hold turn to look at her, and she shifts in her seat, but Luke’s eyes are kind and genuinely curious, so she only hesitates for a moment before saying, “Um, here. Chandrila, I mean.” Because they’ve just left the capital of the New Republic on Chandrila. After so many years with the Alliance and moving around the galaxy, it had been odd coming back to her homeworld. She can’t say she missed it. But it’s not so bad now that she’s not making a living on the streets as a thief.

Luke nods thoughtfully, “I was told you were picked for this mission because you’re good at getting into places,” He smiles, “Care to elaborate?”

And she swears his cheerful nature is contagious because she can’t help a small smile either, “Yeah, you kinda get good at that stuff when you grow up having to steal to eat.”

Lin bumps her shoulder companionable, and Rana looks away from Luke to glance at them. They nod at Keluri, who by now Rana can tell is a good friend of the clawdite, and says, “You two have some things in common then.”

Keluri rolls his eyes, “Are you trying to spill my oh so tragic backstory again?” He looks to Rana, “She happens to think it’s very entertaining.”

“Only because it’s not tragic at all.” Lin leans over to Rana, “His family’s very wealthy, and he thought it a fun idea to steal from his other rich neighbors. Got in some real messes, let me tell you.” 

Rana grins back at them. She’s very much enjoying Lin and Keluri’s relationship. “She talks as if she was there,” Keluri says.

Lin’s smile only grows at that, and Keluri seems to realize he’s made a mistake because he winces, but Lin’s already barrelling on, “He’s right. I wasn’t there. So that means he’s the best one to tell the story.”

Keluri sighs and looks up at the nondescript ceiling, “No one wants to hear about that.”

“I do,” Rana interjects, and Lin smiles wickedly at her.

“See? Rana does. Brek, how about you?”

Rana glances at Brek. He’s been quiet since they got on the ship, but he seems like he’s just been trying to take everything in because he grins, showing rows of sharp teeth, and says, “I’d love to.”

Lin opens her mouth to ask Vadri, but the woman’s already waving her hand, “Go ahead.” Rana’s gathered she’s not the most expressive person, but at least she seems to have been distracted from her hatred of Brek.

Luke leans back in his seat, “Not like we’ve got anything better to do, Keluri.”

And that seems to settle it. Lin grins triumphantly, and Luke sends Rana a mischievous smirk. So Keluri sighs, defeated, and sits back to tell his story.

The trip doesn’t even feel that long, filled with teasing conversations and riveting stories of failed missions and childhood exploits from everyone. Rana finds herself laughing more than she’d expected.

And it’s not until they’re entering Katarr’s atmosphere that Rana realizes she’s learned more about everyone on their team and also shared more about herself than she’d thought she would. Brek’s now telling a story of how he sliced his way into the Alliance’s files and how, through a somewhat convoluted series of events, that led him to eventually end up joining two years ago.

But Rana’s only half paying attention. It’s just clicked that somehow Luke has managed to get this group of people who had been uninterested in talking before he walked over to now share stories like they’re old friends. And she realizes he hasn’t said a word in over half an hour. He’d prompted them and then sat back to let them carry the conversation and get to know each other. And it’s worked; Rana feels more at ease and friendly with all of them already, even though it's only been five hours.

The ship shakes as they pass through atmo, and she glances to Luke. Those blue eyes sparkle, and he winks, and then his attention is fixed back on Brek and his story. But Rana doesn’t stop staring at him. Impressive indeed, Skywalker. He managed to be so kind, so cheerful, so damn friendly that it somehow rubbed off on them. The rumors don’t do him justice.

“Alright, team, we’ll have to finish this story later,” Luke says, standing from his seat. “If you’d all grab one of the parachutes on the wall over there, we can get going.”

Rana raises an eyebrow, still a little awestruck, but she needs to ask, “We’re jumping?” He’d neglected to mention that when going over the plan. She’s learning he’s definitely more of a figure-it-out-on-the-way person.

Luke flashes a grin, “Yep. We don’t want to get too close to their base.” As he speaks, the ramp opens behind them, and any more words are lost to the whistling wind whipping around them. Rana’s quick to tie her hair up at that, trying to pull all the whipping dark strands back into the tie she takes from her wrist. And then she steps across the hold, grabbing one of the last parachute packs left. It’s a good thing she’s not scared of heights. 

A quick glance at the rest of the group tells her Brek doesn’t share her lack of fear. He’s clutching the pack tightly and staring queasily out of the open ramp. Luke pats him on the shoulder and whispers something to him that the wind swallows. It seems to help, though, because the trandoshan’s green skin goes back to a more healthy-looking green that doesn’t give the appearance that he’s going to be sick.

And then Luke raises his voice, smirking, “See you on the ground!” and does a casual two-finger salute, falling backward from the ramp and disappearing over the edge. 

Rana starts, taking a step forward, worry creasing her brow. But Lin’s hand on her arm stops her. “Was he wearing a parachute?” she half-yells incredulously over the wind.

Lin just sighs longsufferingly, “Nope.” And then they’re stepping off after him. Rana huffs out a breath, the wind stealing it as soon as it’s out of her lungs, but she pulls the pack over her shoulders, checking the pull string, and glances to her other teammates. Vadri gives her a small nod, and then Rana’s stepping forward and off the edge.

The sensation of falling is odd, the wind rushing by her, whipping her face in the endless expanse of blue. She thinks she might have left her stomach back up in the ship. But then she’s pulling the cord, and the wind stops abruptly, jerking her up as her descent slows. There’s a forest beneath her, almost endless green, and for a moment, she’s not sure where Luke and Lin are. The tree canopy is too thick. And then it hits her that she should definitely be more worried about hitting one of said trees.

But oddly, the wind seems to sweep her to the left, directing her descent away from any trees that she might have crashed into. And then she spots Lin shucking off their parachute in a clearing, right next to Luke, who seems completely unharmed by his unassisted descent to the ground. And his eyes are closed, his hand outstretched toward Rana and her parachute. Is he pulling her to safety? She’s never witnessed any Jedi powers. Maybe he really is directing the wind or somehow controlling the parachute.

Her feet touch down gently on the grass, the grey parachute fluttering behind her, and then she’s pulling off the pack in time to turn and see Keluri floating down towards them. And sure enough, as she looks closer at Luke, his fingers seem to be pulling each one of them towards him, so they don’t miss the drop point or hit any trees along the way. It’s a little awe-inspiring, and she knows she’s staring as the rest of the group touches down, but she doesn’t care.

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Rana turns and finds Lin also watching Luke, who’s now directing Vadri to the ground, Brek and Keluri shrugging off their parachutes next to him.

Rana nods, looking at where Luke is now patting Brek, who’s still shaking slightly, on the shoulder. Though with their considerable height difference, it turns into more of a mid-back pat for the towering trandoshan. It seems to comfort nonetheless. “I’ve never seen Jedi powers like that in person,” she admits.

She glances to Lin, and the clawdite smiles understandingly, and for some reason, it reminds Rana of her mom, the one that had died when she was only five. “Well, if this mission goes along with his horrid Skywalker luck, you’re bound to see more of it soon.”

“I’m starting to think you don’t care that I can hear you,” Luke says, looking at them now from across the clearing. He seems very unimpressed.

Lin grins sweetly, and Rana has to stifle a smile, “Why, whatever gave you that impression, commander?”

Luke shakes his head across the clearing, blond hair falling into his face, and just turns away, smiling and waving a hand over his shoulder for everyone to follow him. Lin laughs, and a bird in one of the trees mimics the sound. They share a joyful grin with Rana, and then they’re tugging her towards the treeline after everyone. 

Rana hears the shuttle’s engines fade away above them, and soon all that’s left is the dim sounds of the forest. Now that she’s beneath the trees, she can see that their leaves' undersides are actually silver, almost metallic, unlike the top green layer. It makes the shade of the trees seem as bright as the clearing they just left, and looking directly at the leaves is a difficult task. But Luke doesn’t seem to be having any trouble where he’s walking ahead of them, tracing a path that only he can see. Brek also seems unbothered, but everyone else is either looking at the ground or has their hand sheltering their eyes from the mirrored vegetation. Thankfully, the ground is fairly clear of any fallen leaves, so there’s at least somewhere to look that doesn’t burn Rana’s retinas.

She’s not sure exactly where they’re going without a map, but she finds she trusts Luke to lead them straight. And that’s something to ponder because she’s not the biggest on trust, not quickly at least: consequences of growing up an orphan in unforgiving circumstances. But just like he’d nudged the whole group into being friendly with his personality, it seems he’s done the same with getting them to trust him because no one is questioning his direction as they walk silently onward. It’s no small feat with people traumatized by war and a cruel galaxy. But he’s managed it in a few hours. She’s starting to think that maybe he’s used some of those very impressive and also frightening Jedi powers on her.

“I can hear your brain working from over here,” Lin’s voice filters through Rana’s thoughts, and she jerks her head around towards the older clawdite. They’re squinting against the bright reflections of the leaves but still smiling knowingly.

Rana slows to fall into step beside the clawdite, her gaze fixed on the black-clad form of Skywalker up ahead, “How did he manage to…” She’s not quite sure how to finish her statement, but Lin nods understandingly.

“It’s just who he is. And the kid will deny it, but something about him just makes people more trusting, more open. It’s probably because he’s trusting and open first.” Rana looks at them, catching the fond, reminiscent smile as Lin looks at Skywalker. “He worked his magic on Keluri and me, and we’ve been close ever since.” They chuckle softly, pushing a branch out of their way as they walk, “And it’s gotten him in quite a few sticky situations, but he’s never stopped being kind, never put up walls to keep himself from getting hurt like the rest of us do so easily.” Lin fixes Rana with a stern look, their yellow eyes the most serious Rana has seen them, “He’s the best of us even if he’ll never admit it.”

They say it like the truth. And Rana knows enough to know it probably is. And she also knows enough of the universe to know kindness like his is born of hardship and loss. The sad smile Lin shares with her shows they know it too.

“If you have questions about his powers, we’ve got a bit of a walk ahead of us, and he wouldn’t mind you asking.” And the sadness is wiped from Lin’s face, replaced by an encouraging smile.

Rana glances back at the group in front of them, Luke batting vegetation out of the path with his hands at the front. Even as she watches, one of the large branches comes back and hits him square in the face, and Vadri, of all people, lets out a snort as Luke raises a hand to his nose. 

Vadri quickly slams a hand over her mouth, clearly embarrassed at her slip, but Luke grins widely at her and says, “You’d think my supposedly great reflexes would have caught that one. Guess the Force isn’t all it's cracked up to be,” smiling from under the hand cupping his nose. Vadri’s grin returns shyly, and Luke flashes a smile to the rest of the group and resumes walking. Rana’s gaze lingers on Vadri’s smile for longer than strictly necessary. But she pulls her eyes back to Skywalker with an effort.

The short delay as he stopped has allowed the rest of them to catch up, and Rana could easily speed her steps to walk beside him. The smile drops from her face, suddenly unsure, “I don’t know. I don’t want to bother him.”

Keluri chimes in from behind them, “I’m sure he’d love to talk about it. He doesn’t have enough people to discuss his Jedi nonsense with.”

Lin snorts, “Interesting way of putting it, but-” They turn back to Rana, “he’s not wrong.”

Rana looks back to Luke’s figure ahead of them and makes a decision, nodding at Lin, who smiles and gestures her forward. So she raises a hand to shield her eyes and steps quickly around Brek, walking in front of them. He shoots her a questioning glance, but she just smiles at the trandoshan and takes a few more quick steps and one half-jump over a large branch to land quietly next to Luke.

He doesn’t startle at all at her sudden appearance, his lips pulled up ever so slightly, happy even in what seems to be his resting face, as he glances to her and then fixes his gaze back on the tall trees rising up around them. Rana struggles for a moment, trying to find words for what she wants to know. But now she’s having doubts. Her fingers stray to the fabric of her long sleeves, worrying the edges. Is it rude to ask about his Jedi nonsense?

A snort from the man beside her startles her out of her thoughts, and she throws him a concerned look. He catches it and raises a hand dismissively, “Sorry. I just liked the term Jedi nonsense. I should start calling it that.”

Her eyebrows raise even further up her forehead. She’s fairly sure she didn’t say that out loud, so that means… “Did you read my mind?” Her senses are suddenly on high alert, a hand already fingering the vibroblade tucked into her vambrace beneath her dark sleeves, unsure what she’d even do with it, but it brings her some comfort.

Luke turns toward her, still walking, and lifts both his hands quickly in a placating gesture, “Woah, woah. I didn’t read your mind. You were just projecting that thought very loudly. I don’t know everything you’re thinking.”

And Rana supposes that’s sort of comforting, but she still doesn’t drop her guard. She doesn’t need anyone snooping in her head, even Luke Skywalker. And what does that even mean, projecting a thought?

Luke seems to sense she’s not totally at ease, so he continues, “See, just now when you were wary, you raised your shields, and now I can’t sense anything from you.” Shields… That’s new information to Rana. “Before I could sense vague emotions, intentions really. And in your worry, you were kind of-” he casts about for a word, and she narrows her eyes, “thinking really loudly?” he lands on, wincing as she glares at him. “Sorry, I can’t really control it sometimes. But I wasn’t digging through your mind or anything, promise.”

And she trusts him, again because it’s hard not to. Her hand drops back down to her side, and some of the tension leaves her shoulders. Luke smiles softly and turns his gaze back to the path, pushing a small branch out of his way, some of the silver leaves fluttering to the ground. Rana tilts her head, considering, and then, “You said I raised my shields. How did I do that?”

Luke glances back at her, knowing blue eyes scanning her face. “I could show you if you’d like.”

Rana hesitates for a moment and then nods. He smiles, “All you have to do is imagine erecting walls around your mind. It takes concentration at first to keep them up but soon it’ll become second nature.” He gestures in front of him, almost in a sphere, as if he’s building the imaginary walls in the air. “Most people do it naturally when they’re scared,” he adds, shrugging.

Rana frowns doubtfully, “That’s it? Imaginary walls are going to keep Jedi out of my mind.” That seems like it definitely shouldn’t be enough.

Luke chuckles at her disbelief and shrugs again, “Jedi aren’t all-powerful. And your mental state is a lot more important than you give it credit for.” He glances at her again, and Rana can tell she’s being studied. She stares, unimpressed, back at him. “I could demonstrate for you, with your permission, of course,” he asks, expression open.

She frowns even deeper, “What are you going to do?”

He laughs, and a bird somewhere hidden in the mirrored leaves laughs back, “Nothing bad. I could just tap on your mental shields so you can tell they’re there, help you visualize them. I won’t see anything, promise.”

Rana narrows her eyes, but Luke is just smiling openly, genuinely, and she doesn’t doubt his intentions. It’s the fact that she knows she could say no, and he wouldn’t be offended that makes her nod in agreement after a moment of thought.

His grin widens the smallest bit, “Alright, imagine those walls around your thoughts.” She does, pictures walls of durasteel around her mind, blocking her thoughts from the world. And suddenly, there’s a light tap against the imaginary walls. Rana’s eyes widen, and she stumbles, almost pitching forward towards the dirt at the sensation--like what she imagines a bird pecking at the bark of a tree feels like for the tree, a ringing bell that only sounds for a moment. 

But as she stumbles, Luke catches her, a hand wrapped around her upper arm to pull her back from falling. She smiles at him thankfully as she regains her balance on the mossy ground. He waits until he’s sure she’s steady and then lets her go, the corner of his mouth tilted up, and starts walking again.

Rana has the sudden image of the girl from the mess hall’s face if she ever found out that Rana had basically swooned and been caught by Luke Skywalker. She can’t help the light chuckle that escapes, and Luke shoots her a questioning look over his shoulder.

Rana takes a few steps to catch up and waves a hand in dismissal, still grinning wide, “Just thinking about what your admirers would say if they heard you were catching damsels in distress.” 

Rana’s never seen someone’s cheeks turn pink so fast in her life, and she has to stifle another laugh. He rubs at the back of his neck awkwardly and stutters, “I don’t- I’m not-”

She’s tempted to let him splutter for a little longer, but she’s not cruel, so she cuts him off, “Relax, flyboy. You’re not my type.” Her gaze drifts to Vadri as she says it. The woman is walking behind them, her hair still done up in perfect dark braids and smiling softly as she watches a small bird on one of the branches.

Luke tracks her gaze, and his smile returns. “You’re not my type either,” he winks, and she smirks, remembering the rumors about him and the smuggler. The poor girl from the mess hall never had a chance. “And you’re certainly not a damsel in distress,” he says with full confidence.

She laughs, “No, I’m certainly not.” Rana hasn’t ever been that. 

They fall into a companionable silence. The only noise is the sounds of the group's footsteps and Lin and Keluri’s good-natured argument over who’s the better shot behind them. It’s peaceful despite the uncertainty of what’s ahead, and Rana is loath to break the silence, pushing another small branch out of her way before it smacks her in the face. But her mind falls back to the shielding and what she’d originally wanted to ask about. “So, how do you do all of those things, your powers, I mean.”

Luke glances at her, a soft smile growing on his lips, almost as if he’s remembering something, and looks back to the trees, “It’s called the Force. It surrounds us, penetrates us, binds the galaxy together.”

He catches sight of Rana’s blank face and laughs loudly, “Yeah, I didn’t really understand that one at first either. Jedi have a habit of waxing poetic and never really saying anything.” Rana definitely believes it. But he starts again, a brighter smile on his face now, less reminiscent. “It’s this energy almost,” he tries, gesturing around them. “This connection to the life around us. And some people can hear that energy, can manipulate it, listen to it.” He looks back at her, almost as if he knows that makes it only marginally less confusing. But it’s better than the first explanation, so Rana’ll take it.

She nods thoughtfully, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that apparently there’s some kind of all-powerful energy all around them, “So, how did it happen? Like what created it?”

He smiles, gesturing around them again. “Life,” is all he says.

Rana frowns doubtfully, “Life?”

“Life can do amazing things,” he shrugs and then looks up at the trees surrounding them, squinting at the reflected light but still smiling. 

And Rana’s been steadily trying to ignore the headache that’s sure to come from looking at the reflective leaves for too long, but she raises a hand to block some of the light and follows Luke’s gaze up to them. Some of the branches shake with unseen animals jumping from bough to bough, and there are distant songs of birds calling to each other. The rest of the group has fallen silent as well, listening, and it’s peaceful, calm. And Rana thinks that maybe Luke has a point, that maybe this purest form of life  _ is _ able to generate energy that swirls around them all.

She sees Luke smile at her out of the corner of her eye, but she doesn’t look at him, just continues to gaze up at the trees as they walk, the leaves crunching beneath their feet. And they continue walking. Rana loses track of how long it is, caught up in simple beauty that she doesn’t often pay attention to.

It’s only when she catches sight of a tall, grey building--harsh and austere and completely out of place in the beauty of the forest--through the trees in the distance, and Luke throws out a hand to stop her, waving a hand over his head to stop the rest of the group, that she remembers they’re on a mission.

Luke turns, face set in a blank, in-control expression, “Lin,” he whispers, and Lin appears beside him as everyone moves in closer. “Alright, there’s a patrol coming along the edge of the forest—just two troopers. We’ll take them, and Lin, you can take the armor and shift for the facial scanner that’ll let us in. I’ll take the other one and hope I don’t have to scan my face too.” Lin nods, and Luke turns to the rest of the group. “Stay here, out of sight. Keep your comms open on the secure channel. We’ll signal you when it’s clear.” He glances to each of them, and everyone nods. 

Rana pats her blaster at her side, making sure it’s charged, and fingers her vibroblade, checking that everything’s in place. The others do the same beside her. And then Luke looks to the edge of the forest, blue eyes scanning the trees. Rana sees a flash of white, and then Luke is gesturing Lin forward, and they’re slipping away towards the troopers. Rana can’t see the whole thing between the trees, but there’s a blur and a thump fairly quickly, and then another one. Quiet rustling fills the air as Luke and Lin take the armor. Rana wonders what a clawdite shifting looks like. She’s never seen it before, but apparently, this isn’t going to be the mission she finds out because nothing’s visible through the layers of trees separating them.

And then silence falls as Luke and Lin move away, towards the base. Rana glances back to Keluri, who gives her a small smile and then to Brek and Vadri. They’ve resumed their glaring in Luke’s absence, and Rana rolls her eyes. Vadri may be attractive, but it seems she’s also stubborn, and Rana really doesn’t want to be stuck awkwardly in between their silent fight. So she turns to Brek because she knows more about him and says, “So what kind of weapons are you carrying?” Because she only sees the blaster on his hip, similar to her own. But she’s got hidden vibroblades, and she knows Vadri’s carrying explosives, Keluri has a staff strapped to his back, and Lin had an imposing sword sheathed on their belt. So Brek’s surely carrying something else somewhere.

He hesitates for a moment and then finally breaks the staring contest with Vadri, turning to glance at Rana. He shifts on his feet uncomfortably, and for a second, Rana thinks she might have offended him. Is there a Trandoshan custom about weapons? She doesn’t remember one. But then he says, “It’s umm… just my blaster. I’m not a big fighter.”

Rana looks up at all two meters of him suspiciously. But then she remembers how awkward he was around Luke in the beginning and how scared he was of heights when they jumped, and his statement makes a bit more sense. “Huh, wouldn’t have guessed,” is all she says, shrugging.

He smiles slightly, showing a glimpse of his very pointed teeth, “Yeah, most people don’t. Trandoshans have a reputation. Which is useful because then people leave me alone because they think I can beat them up.”

Rana smiles, “I guess that is useful.” But then a glimmer lights up in her eyes, and she smirks, “But now I know your secret, so when I need something out of the top cabinets in the mess hall, I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Brek hisses out a laugh, and Rana grins triumphantly back up at him. She even catches Vadri’s smile out of the corner of her eye, and she feels even more victorious. She doesn’t have many friends, not because she doesn’t want them, but because up until a few months ago, they’d been in the middle of a war, and it was easier not to get close to people who were just going to die. But now, maybe she can find the strength to make some, and this team seems as good of candidates as any.

Then her comm beeps, the others’ also echoing through the forest, and the noise wipes away any amusement. Keluri nods at them, gesturing them to follow him as they creep towards the edge of the trees. The grey building slowly rises to meet them, a welcome respite from the glaring foliage still trying to blind them. She muses that it probably assisted Luke and Lin in taking down those troopers. It’d be close to impossible to spot something lunging out at you from the mirrored leaves until it was too late.

They come to the treeline, an open grassy expanse stretching out in front of them between them and the building. As far as Rana can guess, there are 12 meters between them and the grey walls stretching up towards the bright sky. So that’s 12 meters of no cover they have to cross without getting shot or spotted. And that’s when it seems to sink in that no matter how calm or friendly the trip here had been, they’re on a mission, and she needs to focus.

But then Luke’s head pops out of the alcoved entrance, and he gestures to them, waving them over. And she shoots Keluri a doubtful glance, but the green-skinned togruta just shrugs. They just have to trust that cams aren’t going to pick them up and send cannons raining down on them.

So Keluri nods once at them, and then he’s running, Rana close behind. She can hear the heavy footsteps of Brek behind her, and she assumes Vadri’s bringing up the rear as they cross the grass, running to the wall directly across from the treeline. Rana slams her back against the metal, sucking in a deep breath as she glances to her left, where Brek and Vadri are pressed up against the wall. No alarm so far. 

On her right, Keluri has already begun edging along the wall towards the entrance where Luke’s still standing, waiting for them. She follows him, hands trailing against the cool metal behind her, all senses on high alert. And then she’s ducking into the alcove next to Luke, who’s still wearing the stormtrooper armor, his helmet under his arm. Rana does a double-take when her eyes land on what she supposes must be Lin, standing just in the doorway, surveying a monitor stand. But it’s very disconcerting to see the once pantoran now in the form of a light-skinned man with dark hair.

But then Lin winks at her, and any doubts Rana had are wiped away. That’s definitely the clawdite. She slips in the door after Keluri, scanning the empty, grey hallway that stretches out, and then turns to the right out of their view. Rana positions herself flush against the wall where she can see the open blast door, the group, and also down the hallway, her hand hovering over her blaster.

Luke waves Vadri in last and then raises a hand, and the door slides shut behind him. Rana blinks at the easy display of power, but then Luke’s whispering, and she leans in to hear him. “Alright, Lin moved the cameras so you could get inside unnoticed, but Brek, I need you to slice in and move them back before someone notices, and then loop all the cams in the building so we can get going. Got it?”

Brek nods, and Lin moves aside from the monitor to give him room to work. The rest of them stand in silence, breathing quietly, waiting anxiously for someone to round the corner and spot them. But no one comes. Luke glances up at the ceiling once, shoulder tensing as his eyes track something no one can see. Rana’s hand tightens on her blaster, everyone watching Luke. But soon, his shoulders drop, and he gives the group a small smile. And then Brek whispers, “done,” and she doesn’t have time to wonder what he’d noticed or sensed because he’s talking again.

“Okay, your comms have the map of the base on them. Stay in contact over the secure line. Everyone know what they’re doing?” Luke whispers, looking around at everyone in the group in turn. They all nod curtly, and Luke smiles softly, walking past them towards the end of the hall. He gestures to them to follow, and Rana steps off the wall after him, one hand hovering over her blaster and the other fingering one of the hidden vibroblades in her sleeve. She hears the quiet clang of boots on metal as the rest of the group steps after her.

Luke barely even checks around the corner before he’s stepping out, but Rana chocks that up to Jedi senses or whatever he has. She still finds herself peeking out from behind the wall and scanning the empty hall instinctually before she steps out after him. It looks exactly the same as the one behind them--grey walls, harsh lighting--except for the various halls branching off and doors scattered along the walls, doors that anyone could walk out of at any moment. Rana eyes them warily, tensing at the inadvisable position they’re in, and she suddenly remembers Lin’s pronouncement about Skywalker luck. That sends a chill down her spine, and she desperately hopes they’re not walking into a trap.

She glances to Luke in front of her. He seems focused but not tense. And she trusts him, so she steps past the first closed door and keeps walking, eyes ahead. He takes a few more steps, glances upward, and then turns and gestures to someone behind her and points to a hall branching off to the left. She glances over her shoulder, trying to keep all the possible entrances to their position in sight as she watches Lin, still in trooper armor, nod once, stolen face expressionless, and lead Keluri and Vadri down the other hall. She, Brek, and Luke watch them go for a moment, and then Luke’s moving forward again, all silent steps and fluid grace.

Rana calls up the map from her memory. They should be headed to the fifth floor for the main processing center, which means they need to find the lifts. Luke seems to know where he’s going, though, so she doesn’t say anything. She looks over her shoulder to Brek, even though she can hear his footsteps behind her, and he nods slightly. She shoots him a small smile and turns back to the hall.

They haven’t run into anyone yet, and while Rana’s not one to look a gift tauntaun in the mouth, it’s creeping her out. Her hand never leaves the edge of her vibroblade as they walk through uniform grey halls. But maybe the lack of people is just because since the fall of the Empire, bases like these have been short-staffed. She certainly hopes so.

They stop once when Luke suddenly pulls them through a doorway into an empty office of some kind, closing the door behind them and gestures to them to stay quiet until two voices pass by in the hall outside. She still doesn’t understand how he knew they were coming, but she’s grateful they didn’t get shot. And then they resume their trek through the base towards the lifts. It takes them about five more minutes of walking and ducking into empty rooms or halls to avoid troopers or officers. This base is larger than she’d expected.

And she’s exceedingly glad she stuck to wearing blacks and greys because they make blending into shadowed alcoves a hell of a lot easier in this monochrome base. Even her dark hair is an advantage. Brek, who’s a fairly bright shade of green, and Luke, still in the white stormtrooper armor with his bright blond hair, have a harder time of it. But no one spots them. Though, she’s still certain she saw one officer’s gaze land on them, his eyes widening for a split second before they slid over them blankly. She’s definitely going to ask Luke about that one if they make it out of this.

The lifts are small when they reach them, waiting nervously for the doors to open. Rana’s afraid Brek’s not going to fit, but he just flicks his tongue in displeasure and ducks down until he’s crouched inside it. Luke slides the door shut with a wave of his hand and glances up at Brek, still a head taller even when he’s bent over at the waist beside Rana. Luke smiles slightly, “Alright, Brek?” he says a little louder than a whisper now that they’re out of the halls. It echoes oddly in Rana’s ears after so long of stepping lightly and breathing quietly, but she still doesn’t lower her guard, eyes fixed on the door, tension lining her shoulders.

Brek grimaces, “Never better,” and Luke exhales heavily in a silent laugh, blue eyes bright. And then the door’s sliding open on the fifth level, and the amusement flickers out. He steps out first, turning left. Rana steps out after him, leaving Brek to uncurl from the lift and follow them.

But they don’t get far before Luke stops abruptly at a hall branching off from the main one. Rana peers over his shoulder around the bend and catches sight of what he’d seen: two troopers guarding a door a few meters down the hall. Her blaster is out of its holster before she can even breathe, aiming for the one furthest away. But then there’s a hand on the barrel, pushing it down. Rana glances sideways, raising her eyebrows at her commanding officer, but she lets him lower her blaster. He smiles ruefully and gestures to her to wait. And then, before she can do anything, he steps out into the hallway, in direct view of the troopers.

They hesitate for a split second at Luke’s armor, but then their blasters are raised, and Rana’s cursing under her breath, already stepping out after him blaster raised and finger on the trigger. But she falters, the tip of her blaster dipping unconsciously, as Luke raises a hand and says very clearly and calmly, “You want to go to the mess hall and get some food and forget we were here.”

That’s it; Rana’s officially decided Jedi are insane. There’s no way that works-

But her jaw almost drops when the troopers hesitate and then slowly lower their blasters, repeating Luke’s words back to him in unison before walking straight past Rana and Brek without doing anything. She looks to Brek, and he just stares right back, matching expressions of disbelief pasted on their faces, the mission and their anxiety forgotten for a breath. They turn back to Luke as one, Rana’s eyebrows raised as far as they can go, and Luke just shrugs and turns to the door, opening it with a wave of his hands. It takes Brek and Rana another moment of processing before they even think of following him.

But she tucks whatever the hell that was to the back of her mind to ask about later, rolling her shoulders and exhaling sharply to bring her focus back after that surprise. They’re on a mission; there are things to do. So she glances around the now-empty hall and takes a few quick strides before ducking into the open doorway, keeping her blaster out. 

The lighting in here is dim compared to the brightly lit halls of the rest of the base, and there’s a large communication table taking up the center of the room. Brek slips past her and immediately starts tapping away at one of the monitors connected to it. Luke’s standing off to the side, eyes narrowed and gaze fixed on the floor. Rana glances around the room one more time and then turns back to the door, taking up a position inside the threshold where she can keep an eye on the hall that leads to the lift, blaster gripped tightly in her hand. That’s where it’s most likely troopers will come from, and since their Jedi seems to be trying to decipher what the floor’s made of with his eyes, it’s up to her to keep watch.

“How long, Brek?” She hisses over her shoulder.

She hears the tapping of his claws against the screen and then a hiss, “Five minutes.”

Rana doesn’t respond, just starts counting in her head. Something feels off, and the sooner they’re out of here, the better. The lack of troopers or people trying to stop them is creeping her out. 

And she’s not the only one because three minutes into her countdown Luke finally speaks, “Something’s wrong here.”

She spares a glance over her shoulder. The Jedi’s crouched down, hand on the polished metal floor, and his eyes are closed. It’s not a moment later that her comm beeps, and she hurriedly smacks it to stop the sound from echoing. Brek’s still furiously typing away behind her, and he ignores his. But Luke silences his and Brek’s quickly with a wave of his hand, eyes still clenched shut, “There are more levels to this place than we thought,” he whispers to no one in particular.

Rana ignores him, listening to Lin’s voice as it rings out from her comm. “ _ There’s something going on here, guys! _ ” Their voice is tinny and concerned, and it startles Rana for a moment because it’s vastly different from the pantoran female they were presenting as when she last heard them speak. And there’s a clanking sound in the background, making it hard to hear. It sounds like Lin’s half-yelling to speak over it.

Before she has a chance to ask Luke’s speaking again, eyebrows furrowing, “There are too many lifeforms in this base.”

Rana’s stomach is sinking.

“ _ They’re building stuff down here! _ ” Lin’s voice echoes again.

Luke cuts in again. It’s like he hasn’t heard the comm, his hand still pressed to the floor, sensing something, “Why haven’t we run into more people?”

Brek’s still typing, and Rana’s trying to process the implications of any of this while the bad feeling threatens to choke her.

“ _ I think it’s a weapons factory! _ ”

Rana finally finds words to talk back, trying to keep an eye on the still-empty hall while also monitoring Luke’s trance or whatever it is to the left of her. “But how is that even possible? There’s no intel this base has the capabilities or funds for that!” she whisper-shouts into the comm, anxiety sneaking into her blood.

“ _ I don’t know, but we’re looking at it! _ ”

And that would definitely explain the constant clanging echoing through the comm. “But they can’t pay to set up a whole droid-run system, and they definitely can’t pay people much anymore; there’s no way they found the manpower to run something this big!” She argues back even though she can clearly hear evidence that no matter how true that statement may be, it hasn’t stopped them. And the implications of where they got the funding to run something like that, without the New Republic finding out no less, doesn’t spell good things for the galaxy.

“ _ Wait a minute! _ ” Lin sounds worried, and there’s muffled shouting over the comm, almost lost to the ringing sounds of metal that suddenly become much louder, like Lin just got very close to the machinery that must be running down there.

“I’m almost done. The info’s downloading.” Brek says, claws hovering over a data stick, and Rana nods at him, still waiting anxiously for Lin to speak again. She can still hear muffled talking, so she’s fairly sure the clawdite isn't dead, but Rana’s whole body is tense, blaster raised as her other hand hovers over the edge of her vibroblade. This mission suddenly became a lot bigger. How in the galaxy are they running a weapons factory? And perhaps more bone-chilling, what are the weapons for? As far as the New Republic knows, the dregs of the Empire don’t have that many people that they could need to arm with weapons. So what are they  _ for _ ?

“ _ There are people down here! _ ”

Rana winces, the loud voice bringing her back to the present. “Troopers?” she asks. That could explain why they haven’t seen many.

“ _ No, it’s- _ ”

But Rana’s eyes are suddenly drawn to Luke, who’s rising from his position on the floor. His eyes are blazing with blue fire, and Rana almost flinches. He finishes Lin’s sentence for them, “Slaves.”

And the pure anger in his voice carries through the room and into her comm because Lin doesn’t speak. Even Brek’s typing slows before coming to a halt as he looks to both of them, frozen. The clanging of weapons and machines echoing from Rana’s comm is the only thing filling the silence.

Rana knows the kind of anger in Luke’s eyes only comes from history. She wonders what his is for the briefest moment before her own anger is overriding shock. How in the kriffing hell did the Empire manage this under their noses?? And how are they going to deal with it? This changes their whole plan. They can’t just blow the base up now, not with so many innocents here.

And so she voices her question, “How are we going to handle this?” into the silence, looking to her commanding officer’s face, watching.

Luke strides across the room quickly, and Rana raises her comm so he can speak into it, “How many, Lin?” His voice is hard, no trace of the soft kindness he exudes at almost all times.

“ _ At least 200, commander _ .” And Lin’s voice is carefully controlled as well, their reference to Luke by his rank betraying how serious they are. And the fact that he doesn’t admonish them for the title shows just how much has changed in a few seconds.

Rana glances anxiously between the comm and Luke, his eyes narrowed. “Can you get them out?”

“ _ I don’t think so _ .” She sounds regretful. “ _ We haven’t been spotted yet, but there are far more troopers down here.” _

Luke glances to Brek, “How much longer?”

Brek frowns apologetically, clearly guilty about how long it’s taking, “Only a minute, boss.”

“Thank you, Brek.” And Rana’s surprised that even while his eyes are blazing, Luke seems to know he needs to reassure Brek. And the trandoshan nods, and she can tell the comment helped. Rana glances out to the hall again. “Lin, we’re going to head your way. Try to find the quickest way from the prisoners” -He very pointedly doesn’t call them slaves again- “to an exit that could work to get them out. Don’t set the charges.”

The comm crackles, and there’s a muffled voice, and then Lin speaks again, “ _ Alright, boss, but I don’t think we should leave these weapons here for the Empire to use, and we don’t have enough manpower to take the base by force. If we can get the people out, I think we should have the charges placed just in case so we can destroy this place. _ ”

Luke seems to consider for a moment. Rana can see the gears in his brain turning and then, “Good idea, Lin. Okay, everybody listen carefully: new plan.” Rana turns to look out the hallway, but she keeps listening. “Vadri and Keluri, I want you two to head to the generators like planned. Set the charges and hold there to ensure no troopers remove them before we get a chance to set them off. Got it?” 

There are curt responses of “ _ yes, sir _ ” and “ _ got it, commander _ .” 

And then Luke’s continuing, “Alright, Lin, do the prisoners have shock collars or something along those lines?”

There’s more muffled speaking, and the clanging gets louder for a moment before it fades back to its normal, still deafening, level. “ _ Yes. _ ”

Luke curses quietly, and Rana sees his gloved hand clench slightly, but then his commander voice is back, “Lin, I want you to see if you can find the controls for the collars. An officer might have them. They’re probably overseeing the work somewhere down there. Try to take them without alerting the whole base to our presence. But don’t turn the collars off until I signal you.”

There’s a short “ _ got it, boss, _ ” but Luke is already talking again.

“Rana, Brek, and I are going to head your way, and when I get there, I’ll engage the guards. While I distract them, Lin, you deactivate the collars, and then you three clear a path and get those people out of there.” Rana sees him glance up at her out of the corner of her eye to see if she’s heard, and she rips her gaze away from the hall long enough to jerk her head sharply at him in acknowledgment. “Vadri, Keluri, we’ll signal you when to get the hell out of there, and once we’re out, we blow this thing.”

There’s a chorus of agreement over the comm, and behind Luke, Brek speaks up, “Done, Commander.”

Luke nods in his direction, and Brek moves to step away from the computer, but suddenly Luke holds up a hand, stopping him, his expression calculating, “Wait, Brek, can you program a remote activation code for the evacuation signal?”

Brek pauses, slipping the data stick with the info he’s just downloaded into his pocket and cocks his head questioningly, his tongue flicking out, “Yeah, it’d just take me another minute.”

“Good. Do it.” Brek hesitates but then turns back to the computers and starts typing. Luke half-turns back to the comm so everyone can still hear him. Rana’s still eyeing the hall. “Alright, immediately after I engage the troopers, Brek, you’re going to activate the evacuation signal. Hopefully, that’ll drive some troops away from the prisoners and stopping us. We also don’t want to kill more people than we have to with the bombs.”

There are more muffled voices from the other end of the comm, but no one objects. Luke glances back to Brek, “Do you think you can get us a clear signal to Wedge from inside the base?”

Brek taps on the monitor a few times and then hisses before speaking, “Doesn’t look like it, commander. Our comms are only equipped with a secure short-range. If we send a long-range signal, they’ll intercept it and know we’re here. And I could try using their own signal from here to send him something, but I doubt he’d pick up a message from an Imperial channel.”

Luke nods for a moment, thinking, and then he speaks, “Alright, I engage the troops. Then, Brek, you press the evacuation signal. As soon as you do that, I want you to try to contact Wedge. They’ll know we’re here by that point, so it doesn’t matter if they intercept it, and in the confusion, I think you should be able to get a message through before they jam long-range comms.”

Luke crosses his arms again, frowning. “Tell him to contact the capitol and get some transports and a squadron out here as soon as possible. In case we can’t blow this place up, we’re going to need air support. And we’ll need a way to get all these prisoners off-world, as well as arrest the Imperial survivors.” Brek nods sharply, already looking back to the computer screen. “Oh, and make sure you’ve got all the info on what this place was doing. Leia’s gonna have a conniption when she hears about this.”

And Rana doesn’t doubt it. This is definitely some of the worst news they’ve gotten in a while--that the Empire is producing weapons for something, with unknown funding and slave labor. It doesn’t bode well.

“Everyone clear on what they’re doing?” Luke says into Rana’s comm. 

There’s a crisp and unison, “Yes, sir,” in three different timbres of voice over the whining of metal in the background.

“Well then, everyone get going. And one more thing, guys,” a small smile pulls at Luke’s lips, and Rana narrows her eyes in confusion, “Don’t call me sir.”

The sound of small chuckles echoes over the comm before the connection cuts out, and Rana smiles gratefully at Luke for relieving some of the tension. He returns it, a little more serious than before, but still a smile. And then he turns to Brek, a hand coming to rest on his saber hilt. It’s the first time she’s seen him even touch it this whole mission. She wonders if it’s a comfort like her vibroblades are for her. “Ready, Brek?” he asks.

Brek nods, grabbing a button that the computer spits out and tucking it into his belt, “Got it.”

Luke smiles tightly, “Alright then, let’s go.”

Rana glances back at Brek, who nods, and then she’s stepping out the door first, blaster raised as she scans both directions waiting for Luke to take the lead. He does, and this time he’s half-jogging, and Rana has to run to catch up, shooting a look over her shoulder at Brek to make sure he’s keeping up. He seems to be doing fine, his long legs making it fairly easy to keep pace with Rana and Luke.

They round a corner and almost run face-first into two troopers. Rana immediately raises her blaster, but a moment later, they’re dropping to the ground with twin thumps, unconscious. She looks up incredulously to see Luke’s hand falling back to his side, a small frown on his face. But then he’s stepping over them, “C’mon. There’s no time. They’ll find them soon.”

And Rana doesn’t need to be told twice. She glances down at the troopers as they step over them but then she’s jogging down halls again until the three of them squeeze into the lift. Hopefully, the lack of personnel in the upper levels will give them more time. 

This time, as they descend, Rana realizes just how many levels there are. Based on the controls, it looks like there are at least twenty lower ones under the building. How had she not noticed that the first time? She must be losing her edge.

The lift seems to take forever, and her fingers are tapping on her arm the whole time, filling the silence between their breathing and the flick of Brek’s tongue next to her where he’s bent over. 

But finally, it dings, and the door hisses open… and three more troopers are standing there. Everyone stares at each other for a silent, tense moment, and then the stormtroopers are dropping to the ground with a clatter as Luke steps out, hand clenched at his side, exhaling sharply.

Rana doesn’t hesitate, holstering her blaster and grabbing one of the troopers by their arms. Kriff, they’re heavy. And the armor is hard to keep a grip on, but she manages to drag one back into the empty lift. Brek hefts the other two over his shoulders and dumps them unceremoniously on top of the one she’s just dragged in, closing the door behind him while Luke scans the halls. And then Rana finally unsheathes one of her small vibroblades. With the edge, she pops the lift control panel off and then slashes through the wires, leaving them sparking before she quickly pops the panel back in place to disguise the damage, blowing a stray hair that’s fallen loose away from her eyes.

She nods to Brek and Luke. “That should buy us some time,” she whispers. And then they’re moving again. But there’s only the one main hall stretching out before them until it ends in a large blast door. The lighting and the walls look the same, but somehow the air seems heavier down here. Maybe it’s just the weight of the earth over their heads, here, twelve levels down. Whatever it is, Rana’s not a fan.

But they continue towards the end of the hall, eyeing the smaller doors lining the corridor with suspicion. Their footsteps seem louder, echoing. Or maybe that’s just Rana’s imagination. 

Luke waves a hand as they approach the door, and there’s a click, and then it’s sliding open from both sides. The heat crashes into Rana, and the clanging of metal machinery fills the silence with a ringing intensity. She stifles a cough at the taste of smoke in her mouth, blinking and trying to see past the red-lit haze in the doorway. Luke stands there for a moment, silent, and then he’s stepping through the door. The haze of smog wraps around him, and then he’s gone.

Rana shares a look with Brek, and then she raises her arm to her nose and mouth and steps in after her commander. The smog stings her eyes and creeps in around the fabric of her sleeve trying to protect her airway. And then her vision finally clears, and the smog is forgotten instantly, her arm falling away from her mouth and limply back to her side. Distantly, she registers Brek stepping after her and the hiss of the doors closing. But all her attention is drawn to the cavernous pit in front of her. The floor has turned to metal grating beneath her feet, and she takes an unconscious step forward, hands coming up to the railing in front of her as she tries to see how far down it goes. 

But there’s no way to tell. It stretches downward, filled with brown-tinted smog and levels of belching machines that are so loud Rana can’t even hear her thoughts anymore. Red lights lining the walls cast fractaling light through the haze, giving the whole scene a sense of urgency, of emergency. And she can’t even see the far wall. Everything’s a shade of brown or black. She can’t even make out what kind of weapons they’re building. How are people even surviving down here? Her lungs already feel coated in soot.

And then there’s a loud clang to her left, and she jerks her head around. It’s Luke, standing halfway down a staircase attached to the wall, his hand falling away from the wall where he’s just hit it. His eyes are the only color that seems to make it through the smoke, a fiery blue. He jerks his head towards the bottom of the descending staircase. It’s too hazy to see where that bottom is, but the gesture's intention is clear, and guilt flashes through Rana. She quickly moves away from the railing, cursing herself for getting distracted, and takes the steps three at a time to catch up to Luke. She can hear Brek behind her, his bulk rattling the thin, metal steps attached almost precariously to the wall. 

In some places, the stairs level out into landings, and she can see catwalks stretching out over the machines. And sometimes they pass so close to the large machines Rana could reach out and brush her hands over the metal. She doesn’t, not entirely sure it wouldn’t burn her. But more interestingly are the troopers. They’re everywhere, lining the catwalks, striding between machines, talking to each other. But none of them notice the three obviously out-of-place people making their way down the staircase that circles the edges of the whole room, attached to the wall. Rana’s not sure how Luke’s managing to cloak their presence from so many, but if it wasn’t so nerve-wracking, she’d be impressed--and probably scared.

But she’s distracted by the others she can see through the haze, pulling at pumps, fitting pieces of metal together, shuffling as they push crates across platforms: togrutas, twi’leks, mon calamari, and more. And her heart breaks at the sight of them, dirtied and barefoot and working in the sweltering heat. Her hair that had slipped from her bun is already sticking to her forehead, her exposed skin sticky with sweat while her lungs burn at the acrid smoke. She can’t imagine day after day down here. But they’re going to get them out. Rana won’t accept anything else.

And finally, Rana can see something that looks like the ground a few levels below them. It’s crawling with people. They flit between machines and furnaces, acting as replacements for droids the Empire can’t afford. The white of stormtrooper uniforms is dispersed among them, like flakes of ash amongst coal. It leaves a sick feeling of numbness in the back of Rana’s throat as she stares down at them. She grew up in poverty, thought she’d seen the worst of the galaxy, but she’s never seen  _ this _ . And she hopes she never will again.

A prod to her shoulder brings her gaze back up, glancing over her shoulder. Brek’s tongue flicks out, and he nods his head to the landing a few steps down that Luke is already crossing, his fingers waving in front of countless trooper’s helmets. On the other side, Rana catches sight of Lin crouched behind a machine next to the door of what looks like an office set into the wall. They’re still wearing the face of a trooper but are standing unmasked and waving Brek and Rana over.

Rana doesn’t need any more encouragement. She jumps the last few steps, wincing as the metal rattles beneath her boots, but then she’s running lightly past trooper’s that barely spare her a glance, still shaking their heads, confused from whatever Luke’s done. Brek’s heavier footsteps echo behind her, blending in with the clanking of machinery. Luke’s blond hair disappears abruptly in a burst of steam, and Rana coughs, waving her hand in front of her face, desperately trying to find her commanding officer through the smog. And then suddenly, a hand snakes out next to her and yanks her behind something that seems to be producing casings for detonators.

In the next moment, her vibroblade is singing through the air towards the person’s windpipe before she even registers who it is, her instincts taking over. But a supernaturally strong grip encircles her wrist, stopping her swing in mid-air, the vibroblade humming an inch from Lin’s throat. Rana’s eyes widen in horror, and her gaze flicks to the owner of the grip. The fingers around her wrist are gentle, if unyielding, and she meets Luke’s bright eyes even as he releases her hand, letting the blade fall back to her side.

“Remind me to never sneak up on you,” Lin whispers, and Rana’s gaze jerks back to them, trying to apologize wordlessly, guilt blossoming in her chest. But Lin just smiles ruefully and waves a hand, her eyes glancing over Rana’s shoulder quickly to where Brek has undoubtedly appeared. And then she’s whispering, her tone hard, “I have the controls for the collars.” Her gaze once again flickers away from the conversation, this time to the body of an unarmored, unconscious officer Rana hadn’t noticed squeezed in between the wall and the piping of the machinery. “Whenever you’re ready, boss.”

Luke nods once and quickly starts shedding the stormtrooper armor he’s been wearing, revealing his black tunic beneath. “Wouldn’t want them to think I’m one of them,” he grins, but there’s no trace of humor in the words. And then the machine next to them hisses steam once again, wreathing them in smoke, and Rana stifles a cough, unsure if the troopers around the corner have recovered from whatever trick Luke performed and might hear them. However, she doubts they’d be able to hear anything even if their minds were clear.

The burst of smoke again dissipates quickly, and Luke seems to emerge from it, eyes glowing bright in the darkness. Rana almost takes a step back from the sight, and only Lin’s comforting hand on her arm stops her. “What’s the signal?” they ask seriously.

He grins, and there’s nothing kind in it. “You’ll know it when you see it.” And then he just nods at each of them and steps around the corner. Rana peers out and watches him grab the thin metal railing and throw himself over it, disappearing into the smoke beneath them as it swallows him like the tide of an ocean.

And she can’t help herself. She rushes out from behind the machine, keeping an eye on the troopers further down the catwalk, but they seem just as distracted as her. With a strange feeling of awe, Rana peers over the railing. And there, barely visible through the smoke, a bright green light meters beneath them on the ground, so out of place in the atmosphere of fire and death. For a moment, everything is silent, shocked into unnatural stillness, and Rana has time to wonder if the shining blade or Luke’s piercing gaze is more deadly. She’s almost inclined to believe it’s the latter. “I think that’s the signal,” she exhales into the silence.

Then she hears a click behind her, and the chaos begins.

An alarm begins to blare, deafeningly loud and bright red as the lights flash. It almost drowns out the screaming and clanging from below them… almost. Lin has unlocked the collars, and it seems Brek has activated the evacuation signal. Rana catches sight of the green blade swinging through the smoke below for a moment, red bolts of light flying around it. 

But quickly, she blinks and draws up her instincts, honed over years on her own, and turns away from the railing, a vibroblade already flying through the air to pierce the weak spot between helmet and chest plate of the trooper raising his blaster at her from the opposite end of the catwalk. With her other hand, she’s already pulling out her own blaster, taking down two more in the space of a breath as she ducks the fire of a third. A blast coming from behind her takes care of the last one on their level, and she turns to find Lin, once again sporting the face of a pantoran and none of the stormtrooper armor, holding a smoking blaster. 

Distantly, she realizes it’s probably so she doesn’t frighten the slaves when they try to lead them out. But she doesn’t bother to think about it for long, her finger automatically tapping on her vambraces. With a singing rush through the air, her vibroblade returns, fitting perfectly back into its magnetized slot. She’d commissioned them from a Mandalorian armorer years ago, and even though they’re not beskar, they still cost her quite a lot of credits. But they’ve never failed her. Not everyone has the Force, but Rana gets by without it.

Her gaze catches on Brek as she pulls her sleeve back over the hidden blades. He’s whispering instructions to Wedge into the comm on his wrist. But then Lin’s grabbing her arm and pulling her gaze to their stern face, “I sent the fastest route out to your comm. It’ll show up on your map.” They glance quickly to Brek behind them, “Take Brek and get to the lower levels. Get as many out at a time as you can. I’ll sweep the upper landings and meet you at the exit. Got it?”

Rana barely has time to nod before Lin is rushing to the end of the catwalk and racing upwards, disappearing in the maze of machines and flashing lights. Behind her, Brek’s conversation cuts off. “Kriff, they jammed us. Hope I got enough through.”

Rana is already pulling a grappling hook from her belt and unwinding it with practiced skill; “You did,” she reassures with no proof, not looking at him. “Meet me at the bottom.” And then she’s tossing it upwards, and as soon as it clicks, she’s sliding over the railing. She may not be a Jedi, but she’s resourceful.

The smoke parts around her in waves, aggravating her already sore throat. And as she descends, the madness intensifies, shouts and the clash of armor and whining of lasers growing louder and more earsplitting. But she manages to shoot a trooper off one of the landings even as she plummets to the ground. And as soon as her feet touch gracefully against the duracrete, she’s spinning around, blaster taking out a trooper as her vibroblade sings through another’s armor. They crash to the ground with a thump, and she’s finally able to take in how large the hall truly is. It seems to stretch out for clicks. Luke’s green blade is barely visible through the smoke, already drawing the troopers away from the slaves and to the far side of the hall. And Rana finally realizes the slaves are already heading for the only large door set into the wall to her left, taking advantage of the fact their chains and collars are no longer active.

She calls her blades back and tucks them away but keeps her blaster raised as she runs across the ground. She nimbly jumps over a few bodies of Imperials. There’s no sign of blaster fire or lightsaber burns on their white armor, but Rana sees the cracks splitting their helmets, the blood seeping out, and she glances back to the growing crowd of people, shouting and already wrestling with more officers. She feels a surge of satisfaction. These people are not beaten.

With an effort, she presses through the crowd of bodies to the door, half of her focus on the flickering blue map pulled up on her wrist. She scans it once and then closes it, hoping she can navigate such a wild and terrified group out of the base.

Then her eyes catch on the control panel to the door where a twi’lek is already pulling out wires, the crowd jostling at his back. She skids to a halt next to him and peers over his shoulder, but he seems to have everything under control. The door will be open in a minute. Rana exhales sharply, reorganizing her thoughts. They need to have some semblance of order if most of them are going to make it out.

So she clears her burning throat as much as she’s able and yells, trying to make herself heard over the shouting and clanging of machines dumping pieces of weaponry on the ground, still producing even when there’s no one to assemble the parts. “HEY!” The twi’lek next to her glances up, and the shout catches the attention of a few people around her, but no more than that. She exhales again in frustration and fear, “LISTEN!” A few more people than last time turn towards her, but not enough. They’re panicked and frightened, and some are still fighting off troopers. Of course, they’re not listening to a woman too small enough to even be seen over most of the crowd. 

She curses her height but sucks in another breath of smoke to try again before a resounding roar catches her attention as well as everyone else’s. And then her eyes find Brek, his mouth just closing from his yell as he pushes through the crowd, a good head taller than everyone else. Silence follows it as much as possible, the machines still thundering and fighting continuing on the edges of the group.

But Rana takes advantage of Brek’s help to yell once more, hoping the evacuation order will lead any troopers away who might have heard Brek roar. “Listen! We’re here to help, but we need to work together to make it out of here.” As she talks, the crowd parts around her, letting her see past the few people directly in front of her. “Anyone who can fight, join me at the front or Brek at the back. Everyone else, try to stay in the middle. We’re going to force our way out.”

There’s a hushed murmur, and then the door beeps behind her, and the twi’lek stands, grinning, as it begins the slide open. And for a moment, Rana thinks it’s going to be pure chaos despite what she just said, but as she looks, the group already seems to be organizing itself. Her eyes widen at the sight; at her side are a dozen people with fire in their eyes, along with the twi’lek, who nods, any hope he might have hidden behind an emotionless mask, “Communication is survival.”

And she doesn’t want to think about how much sense that makes, how they need to be good at spreading word quickly or react to shouted words with no hesitation, so she just nods, her face expressionless, and then she’s running, the pounding of hundreds of feet filling the space behind her as they push through hallways, her blood rushing as her vibroblades sing and the acrid stench of blaster smoke fills the air. But she thanks Luke and all the gods she’s ever heard of that he thought to send out the evacuation signal because there are fewer troopers than she’d expected.

Her vision tunnels to the one goal of freedom: left, left, right, left, third door on the right--the directions roar inside her head, replacing all other thoughts. It is only this as they dash madly through halls that are so different to the bowels of the base.

They don’t take the lifts. Lin had somehow managed to pinpoint the one set of stairs in the entire base, much better for moving large groups of people, and though her legs are protesting, Rana doesn’t stop as they climb level after level. Everything’s a blur of motion as they move together, hundreds behind her. 

She doesn’t even have time for emotion as they finally stop in one of the upper halls, and the only thing between them and the blue sky is one door, not the one they entered but close to it. Brek immediately pushes through the crowd, which is a wave of silence and determination as he begins hacking the door and camera system again to stop the base’s turret guns on the walls outside from picking them off one by one when they try to leave.

Rana cranes her head over the sea of people crammed into the white hallways and snaking back as far as she can see until it turns a corner. The tension in the shifting feet, bare against the metal, and roving eyes, is palpable. And Rana can’t even begin to process what being this close to freedom must feel like.

And then her comm beeps. She answers it with half a thought, her gaze still searching the increasingly restless sea of heads. It’s Lin: “ _ I’ve got the last of them at the back of the group. We’re all here. _ ”

Rana doesn’t dare smile, but she glances at Brek, his long fingers typing furiously on the monitor. There’s a pause, and then, “Done.” And as soon as he says it, the door begins sliding open, flooding the entry with sunlight.

She pivots, “Head to the treeline! We’ll cover you!” Hesitation for only a moment, but then Rana’s stepping out of the door, feeling the change from metal to grass beneath her feet, and then people are rushing by her. She doesn’t allow herself to feel anything yet. The turret guns may be out of commission, but the evacuation order has gone out. So there’s a fair number of officers and troopers already raising blasters from where they’re congregated in the shade of the buildings. Rana doesn’t hesitate, running past the scattering people and firing with her blaster. The red bolts fell two before she’s forced to duck behind a turn in the wall for cover. She huffs heavily, blowing a stray strand of dark hair out of her face, and then slides out a step into the open to fire again. Rana’s already hidden behind the jutting piece of the wall when she hears one of the troopers thump to the ground from her shot.

The people are streaming out of the building, and she sees Brek near the door, covering as much as he can. She fires again and then raises her commlink, “We’re almost all out.”

The comm crackles, and then she hears Luke’s voice, loud and surrounded by the clanging of the lower levels, “ _ Keluri, Vadri, head to the exit. I’ll meet you guys out there. _ ”

Rana continues ducking out from her cover to take pointed shots at troopers, some of which are still filing out of other exits onto the open expanse of grass between the walls and the safety of the forest. “ _ We’re cornered by the generators. _ ” That’s Vadri. Rana’s heart sinks--they’re all supposed to make it out--before she forces her emotions to the back of her mind again, catching sight of Lin pushing her way out of the door and rushing towards a group of troopers trying to wrestle a man to the ground. Their sword whistles through the air and cuts through the troopers’ plastoid armor easily.

“ _ I already set the charges on a timer, and it’s too late to disarm them, but we can’t get out, _ ” Vadri’s voice echoes through the comm, only the slightest tinge of panic in her words, and Rana flings one of her vibroblades with so much fury that it goes straight through a trooper’s chest before she’s calling it back to her vambrace. 

The prisoners are almost out, scrambling and yelling, and officers are shouting around them, but Luke’s voice cuts through everything. “ _ I’m on my way, Vadri. Hang on. _ ” And then the connection ends. But Rana can’t stop and can’t process her worry, because if she does, she won’t start again, and these people still need her help.

So she ducks out from behind the wall and rushes a trooper, blade familiar in her palm as she slices across his chest and shoots one behind him. Lin fights near her, watching the last dregs of the slaves pour into the cover of the trees. Some of them have taken up the blasters of fallen troopers and are shooting officers and troopers, using the mirrored foliage to their advantage. Rana presses her back against Lin’s as they move toward the treeline, Brek covering them.

Just as she ducks into the shade of the towering trees, she hears Lin’s sharp gasp behind her and spins, ignoring the sharp burn in her arm from where a laser had grazed her and raising her blaster instinctively, but it’s Vadri and Keluri racing across the grass. Quickly, Rana shoots a grey-clad officer aiming at the two of them, and someone else’s shots ring out from behind her--she doesn’t care whose--clearing their path. Vadri stumbles, but Rana grabs her arm and pulls her behind the cover of a bush and quickly peers over at the soldiers using the walls for cover just as she had earlier. They’re trading fire with the prisoners who managed to find guns, but their numbers have dwindled a bit, and the reflective leaves make hitting anyone beneath the trees hard. Rana doesn’t doubt that there are double the troops on the other side of the base, flooding from the exits on that side and that they’ll be here soon.

But for the moment, she lowers her blaster and turns to Vadri crouching next to her and breathing hard. It can’t have been more than ten seconds since she stumbled past the treeline. “Where’s Luke?” Rana asks, grabbing Vadri’s arm to steady the normally collected woman.

She gulps in another breath, and her voice is shaky when she speaks, “He- He cleared us a path, told us to run--not to look back. So we did.”

Rana peers over the bush again, watching, but Lin is standing next to them, their shoulder brushing Keluri’s, and they’re covering this section of the treeline with pinpoint accuracy, so she ducks down again and squeezes Vadri’s arm in what she hopes is a comforting gesture. “What about the charges? Did he disarm them?” That has to be why they haven’t gone off yet.

Vadri shakes her head, hair slipping from her tightly coiled hair, “I don’t think he could have. They were about to explode when we left. I don’t-” She closes her eyes and breathes in, trying to steady her breathing, “I don’t even know how we made it out or why nothing’s happened yet. It shouldn’t be possible.” When she opens her eyes, they’re shining with unshed tears.

Rana’s hand moves from Vadri’s arm to her hand, holding it tightly as she tries to understand. But she doesn’t get that time because it’s then that she hears the clanking of armor and sees the rest of the Imperial forces rounding the base, apparently alerted by their fellow soldiers to the confrontation on this side. And there are far too many of them. Rana’s stomach drops, and she swallows, checking the low charge on her blaster. She glances behind her at the people who can’t fight who have moved further into the trees, hiding and holding each other close. She can tell them to run further into the forest and keep running, but if the squadron and transports from the New Republic didn’t get their message and don’t show up, this isn't going to go well no matter what might have happened to Luke, who she pointedly doesn’t think about. He’s  _ not _ dead, she whispers in her thoughts.

But Rana’s a survivor. She’s going to go down swinging. She squeezes Vadri’s hand one more time and meets her eyes. They’re tinted purple, something she hadn’t noticed earlier; they’re beautiful. 

Rana just inhales the clean forest air, savoring it in her lungs, still sore from the smog of the factory, and nods. Vadri smiles weakly back but reaches for her own blaster, so Rana drops her hand and raises her gaze to Lin. The clawdite doesn’t shift their position, just holsters their blaster and again pulls out their sword that can cut through armor with ease. “We’ll buy them time,” they whisper. The words echo in Rana’s ears, and she sees Keluri and Brek nod. Vadri is behind her, but she knows the woman does the same.

And so she turns, opening her mouth to tell the frightened people to run, run, and don’t look back until the New Republic gets here. But then everything seems to freeze. The shouting of orders and trading of shots ceases, and Rana slams her mouth shut, whirling around, blaster raised and a vibroblade clutched tightly in her sticky palm.

But her blaster lowers unconsciously, her gaze drawn to the same thing as the Imperials, mouth slack. It’s Luke walking slowly out of the base, alive… but something’s off. Rana can’t look right at him; There’s a glow fuzzing the edges of his silhouette. But his eyes, those are clear. Clear and burning.

He’s walking towards them, but his feet don’t quite seem to be leaving imprints in the grass. Rana’s still frozen in awe and muted fear. No one’s breathing, not the prisoners under the trees or the Imperials hunched near the building. And Rana isn’t religious, but she thinks if she was, she’d be praying right now. Luke seems like enough of a god in this moment to warrant it.

And then it seems like everyone breathes at once, the air whistling. Then… the world explodes.

The building disappears in a spray of crimson fire and molten metal with a sound that seems to take all others with it, leaving only ringing silence in its wake. Rana stumbles as the ground shakes, watching the tidal wave of energy rolling towards them. She has time to think that the explosion is much larger than she was expecting and also that they’re definitely not far enough back from it before she’s ducking on instinct, grabbing whoever’s closest and yanking them to the forest floor.

Heat blasts at her, whipping her hair out of her face, and she stays there, hands on her head, wondering, dazedly, why she’s not dead yet. But a moment later, there’s a hand on her sleeve, and she looks up from the dirt staring her in the face. It’s Vadri, her mouth moving, eyes wide and staring. But Rana can’t hear anything. 

It doesn’t matter, though, because Rana can see it for herself. She pushes herself up without thinking, dazed and mesmerized by the shimmering gold sparkling in the air. Something in her wants to reach up and touch the glinting sky, dip her fingers into the river of coalescing and rippling gold. But there’s a whispering voice in her head warning her against it. Rana pulls up her shields without thinking, and the voice disappears, but she heeds its words regardless and doesn’t reach up towards the energy, no matter the strange pull she feels towards it.

Around her, everyone else is staring with the same muted awe as fire licks over the almost invisible shield and fades away, leaving only smoldering grass and heaps of ruined metal in its wake. Even some Imperials have been pushed beneath the shield, and there’s no thought of fighting while everyone stands in shock.

Rana’s eyes are drawn to the only person who could have done this.

Luke is glowing, that golden haze around his edges like he’s not truly all human. Not right now. His hands are outstretched towards the ruined base, the brilliant light spilling from his hands like a fountain to feed the shield in front of the treeline. It’s like he’s holding molten gold or liquid sunlight. 

Her head is ringing as finally the shield slowly fades away, the gold falling away as the danger recedes. And numbly, Rana realizes she’s walking towards Luke. Around her, the freed prisoners are surrounding the surviving Imperials, their sheer numbers enough to get the troopers to drop any weapons. But her only focus is her commanding officer. She can see Keluri leaning on Lin, both making their way to the same thing. And somehow, she knows the rest of the team is coming too.

There’s a large empty expanse around Luke where no one has dared get close. He’s still glowing dimly, his eyes too bright, too old. But the power’s receding like a wave. She can see it glowing in his veins, retreating to lay dormant under his skin. And then, as she strides past the edge of the widening circle around him, he falls backward, hitting the grass with a thump that’s all too human.

Rana’s at his side in another moment, reaching for his face, but when her fingers brush his cheek, she flinches back, shaking burned fingertips. His skin is like fire. Lin drops down to kneel at his other side, hands fluttering over his torso lightly, searching for injuries but trying not to touch. He seems totally unharmed, peaceful, even if his eyes are still shut, and there’s no air in his lungs.

“What was-” Rana starts, her mind spinning but unable to think, but Lin just shakes her head, still looking down at Luke, and the words evaporate from Rana’s lips, shock settling in their place.

Distantly, she hears the people they saved talking and laughing amongst themselves as Imperials surrender and the roar of x-wings are heard above them, transport ships landing in the ruins of the base. The joy of life surrounds everything but somehow doesn’t seem to pierce the bubble around them, the circle where everything rings hollow.

Rana sees Keluri place a hand on Lin’s shoulder on the other side of Luke. And she recognizes Brek standing awkwardly behind her and Vadri beside him, their hatred of each other forgotten as they all stare at Luke’s unmoving body, their heads hanging. But Rana shakes her head, ignoring the dark strands that slip from her bun, sticky against her forehead. This isn’t right. Luke is a Jedi, the hero of the Rebellion, the pilot that blew up the Death Star and saved the galaxy. He’s invincible, and he just saved them all with the power of gods. He can’t  _ die _ . That’s too… too human.

A hoarse cough breaks through her thoughts, startling her, and she jerks her head up, blinking. 

Luke pushes himself off the grass, propping himself up with a hand on the ground, and Rana stares for all of a moment before she’s grinning. On Luke’s other side, Lin smiles wide, and suddenly the clawdite stands and grabs Keluri’s collar, pulling him close. Lin grins wickedly and whispers something, an inch from his lips, and he smiles widely, and then they’re kissing, and the solemn bubble is popped, joyous laughter spilling in to fill its place. Luke is alive. Rana doesn’t understand how. Maybe he’s not completely mortal. But he’s alive. And the people are free, the weapons destroyed. They’re all blisteringly, blindingly,  _ alive _ .

And all the emotions she’s banished to the back of her mind during the mission flood into her chest. Except they come out as laughter. Pure, maybe slightly hysterical laughter. But Lin and Keluri are still kissing, and Vadri hugs Brek behind her. Somehow Rana doesn’t think they’ll be glaring at each other again anytime soon. And as she looks back to Luke, smiling but confused, with exhaustion painted on all his features, she can’t help but wonder if he picked them for this mission for that reason--to mend their fractured relationship. It seems like something he’d do.

The joy doesn’t fade, but it quiets, enough for Rana to suppress her laughter--if not the wide smile--and for Lin and Keluri to stop kissing long enough to speak. People are milling around them, officials loading people and Imperials on transports, but no one disturbs their group, and for a moment, they all just look at each other smiling.

And then Luke looks up at Lin and Keluri, still wrapped in each other’s arms, and grins, “Took you two long enough.”

Rana laughs again, the giddy happiness of being alive in her chest. Lin doesn’t even glance down, still staring at Keluri softly, and by the way he looks back, Rana thinks he’d love Lin no matter their face. Still smiling, Lin says, “If I wanted your opinion hotshot, I would have asked for it.” And then, with a sparkle in their dark eyes, Lin glances down at Luke, “Besides, when was the last time you kissed someone?

“Low blow, lieutenant,” Luke scowls, but the corner of his lips is turned up. Then he closes his eyes, exhaling heavily, his eyebrows drawing together, and he falls backward from where he’s sitting up. Rana jerks forward in fear, and Vadri crashes to her knees next to her, already reaching for their commander before they see his blue eyes open again, sparkling and bright, his grin growing as he catches sight of their faces.

He’s her commanding officer, but Rana doesn’t care: she slaps his arm, hard, and is slightly relieved to find his skin is no longer burning through his dark sleeve. “Not funny,” she says, frowning. She does her best to glare, but he’s rubbing his upper arm and pouting, and she can hear Lin’s snickers from above her.

By the time he relents and apologizes with a cheeky grin--“Sorry”-- her lips are already tugging up. Then his gaze flicks back up, past all their faces, to the bright sky above them, “The sky’s just prettier from this angle.”

And Rana’s fairly sure that’s  _ not _ the reason he collapsed backward. He’s smiling, but his eyes are dim, and his expression is strained, his fingers subtly clenching in the grass. But there are no visible injuries, and he’s not complaining. And--she cranes her neck from where she’s kneeling in the grass to look up--he’s not wrong. The sky is clear and beautifully blue, so welcome after their time underground in the heat and smoke. But somehow, it’s still not as blue as his eyes.

But Rana has other, more pressing questions she desperately wants answered, “What happened in there? We didn’t--” The words catch in her throat, and she pauses. “How did you make it out?” she says instead.

He sighs, eyes shutting again, and doesn’t speak for a moment. It’s not silent, not with so many people and the smoking of the base behind them, but it’s calm. Lin and Keluri lower themselves to the grass next to him in the stillness, still holding hands and leaning into each other. So Rana leans back on her heels and then pulls her legs around to sit cross-legged, finding a more comfortable position as she waits. Vadri, already sitting next to her, falls backward on the grass to lay on her back, the same as Luke and Brek lays down on Vadri’s other side.

And somehow--Rana’s not sure why or how--they all end up laying on their backs on the sun-warmed grass. She’s in between Luke and Vadri, looking up at the clear sky. The grass tickles her skin, and she grabs at it, clenching her fist.

Finally, Luke speaks, his voice soft and exhausted, “I knew Vadri and Keluri weren’t going to make it, so I just kind of” -he struggles for a word, and eventually he gestures up at the sky absentmindedly- “paused the explosion.”

Rana turns her head to stare at him incredulously, but he doesn’t look at her, gaze fixed on the sky, “And then I walked out.” He tries to shrug, but it doesn’t quite work while he’s lying on the ground.

“Had you done that before?” Rana asks quietly and then hesitates at the pure insanity of her next words, “... Pausing an explosion?”

He shakes his head slightly, blond hair catching in the sunlight, “No.” He doesn’t elaborate, and for a moment, nothing seems to move.

And then, from Rana’s other side, “Thank you.” 

It’s barely a whisper, but Luke seems to hear it, and he finally turns his head, pulling it off the grass to look over Rana at Vadri, who had whispered it, her eyes now with a silver shine instead of purple. “Always,” is all he says, and then his head thumps back against the grass.

Rana doesn’t know how long they stay there, together. There are so many problems, so much to do, but here it’s just them, watching the sky and feeling the sunlight against their sweat and blood-soaked skin, enjoying the warmth and life in their veins. The peaceful camaraderie is a balm to her heart, and she has hope that these people won’t just drift out of her life.  _ And _ if she’d been doubtful of the Force before, she isn’t now.

But finally, Wedge approaches, his head popping into Rana’s field of vision. She has to blink a few times to register him, but once she does, she realizes the noise of transports and people have disappeared, replaced with the sounds of the forest behind them, quiet and peaceful. Even the sound of the leaves swaying in the wind is audible. Rana pushes herself up from the grass with protesting muscles and sees the rest of the team pulling themselves from the almost- trance, blinking and stretching their arms.

“Sorry to interrupt this wild party,” he smirks. “But I think I’m supposed to take you guys back to the Capitol. I hear you have some pretty important information about whatever the hell happened here.” He hooks a thumb into his belt, and his gaze wanders over all of them, surely taking in what a mess they all are. “You’re lucky I was able to keep all those officials from demanding answers while they were still getting people on transports.” But he’s smiling fondly, and his gaze darts to the ground next to her as Rana pulls herself up with a groan.

His smile grows, “Leia’s definitely going to want to know about this as soon as possible… But someone’s going to have to carry  _ him _ to the ship first.”

Rana jerks her head around with a start, and sure enough, Luke is still lying on the ground, fast asleep. Lin snorts from where they’ve got an arm wrapped around Keluri, supporting him so he can take his weight off the leg oozing blood out of deep gash. “That stunt took a lot out of him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sleeps for a week. But I’m sure not carrying him,” they smirk. And Rana wouldn’t be surprised either; he’d certainly seemed exhausted, and she doesn’t fault him for falling asleep. That said, she’s not carrying him either.

Everyone seems to have the same idea at once because as one, they all glance at Brek, standing a head taller than all of them. His tongue flicks out, and he glances around the group of smiling friends, “Do I have to-”

In unison, they smirk, cutting him off, “Yes.” 

He groans but picks up their commanding officer as they all walk back to the ship, the air filled with laughter and jokes that sparkle golden in the sunlight.

**Author's Note:**

> i might write more set in the same series about where the empire was getting the money if i ever get any ideas lol
> 
> If you guys liked it leave a comment. They make my day! Seriously I love reading them so please leave me one cause they motivate me to write more! if you guys have ideas for other stories send me an ask on tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/imadetheline) or just yell about stuff with me. Info about me and all my other tumblrs are [here](https://infoabtmaddie.carrd.co/#)


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